Exactly How Dirty Is Your Money???

Elevator buttons, bathroom toilets and doorknobs are the surfaces that contain the most germs, right?

Not necessarily.

According to ABC News, researchers discovered that dollar bills from a Manhattan bank carried 3,000 types of bacteria. As was to be expected, most of them were the types commonly found on people’s skin. Others were similar to the types found in mouths…and even in vaginas.

In addition, the bacteria found could be linked to a wide range of harmful germs, such as the types that cause acne, pneumonia, and even some antibiotic resistant types, including the superbug methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to the researchers at the New York University’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology.

Why?

Experts say that the reason paper currency can carry germs so effectively is that people don’t often wash their hands before or after handling it. The materials, which are conducive to viruses and bacteria, pick them up, and then breed in the ideally-warm temperatures inside pockets and purses.